Practical Support for Upcoming Synod

I am delighted to tell you about a growing coalition of pro-family and pro-life groups gathered under the name of Voice of the Family to offer our expertise and resources before, during and after the Extraordinary Synod on the Family. The Synod will be held in Rome between 5 and 19 October. Voice of the Family team will be working throughout that period at the Salvatorian Motherhouse on Via della Conciliazione.Our position paper released yesterday, on the Feast of St Michael, states:

“The Synod provides an important opportunity to take concrete steps to address this crisis and give renewed impetus to the “New Evangelisation”. If the Synod is to be effective it is essential that the teaching of the Church is affirmed clearly and without ambiguity. All proposals which result from the Synod must be founded on the truths of the natural moral law and Divine Revelation.”

Voice of the Family aims to assist individual Synod participants as well as to serve the faithful by sharing our research and analysis via our media and contacts. At the heart of all our considerations are the following key principles:

1. Marriage, the exclusive, life-long union of one man and one woman, is the fundamental foundation of a stable and flourishing society and is the greatest protector of children, born and unborn.

2. The separation of the unitive and procreative ends of the sexual act, which is intrinsic to the use of contraception, has acted as a major catalyst of the culture of death.

3. Parents are the primary educators of their children:
“It will be impossible to engage in a ‘New Evangelisation’, or to build a new ‘culture of life’,” the position paper concludes, “if the true understanding of marriage and human sexuality is no longer understood and if parents are no longer free to educate their children according to the natural moral law and the teachings of the Catholic Church. There are many men and women of good will, who have the truths of the natural moral law “written on their hearts” (Rm 2:15), who are open to hearing the message of the Church when it is presented with clarity and confidence. It is our hope that the Synod will use this opportunity to help bring the good news of Jesus Christ to families across the world.”